Notably, chronic exposure of aortic rings to endorepellin for 7-9 days markedly suppressed vessel sprouting, an angiostatic effect that was rescued by blocking PERK kinase activity.&nbsp; Our findings unravel a mechanism by which an extracellular matrix protein evokes stress signaling in endothelial cells that leads to angiostasis. Published under license by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.Timely resolution of bacterial infections critically depends on phagocytosis of invading pathogens by polymorphonuclear neutrophil granulocytes (PMNs), followed by PMN apoptosis and efferocytosis. Here we report that bacterial DNA (CpG DNA) and mitochondrial DNA impair phagocytosis and attenuate phagocytosis-induced apoptosis in human PMNs through Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9)-mediated release of neutrophil elastase and proteinase 3 and subsequent down-regulation of the complement receptor C5aR. Consistently, CpG DNA delays pulmonary clearance of Escherichia coli in mice and suppresses PMN apoptosis, efferocytosis, and generation of proresolving lipid mediators, thereby prolonging lung inflammation evoked by E. coli Genetic deletion of TLR9 renders mice unresponsive to CpG DNA. We also show that aspirin-triggered 15-epi-lipoxin A4 (15-epi-LXA4) and 17-epi-resolvin D1 (17-epi-RvD1) through the receptor ALX/FPR2 antagonize cues from CpG DNA, preserve C5aR expression, restore impaired phagocytosis, and redirect human PMNs to apoptosis. Treatment of mice with 15-epi-LXA4 or 17-epi-RvD1 at the peak of inflammation accelerates clearance of bacteria, blunts PMN accumulation, and promotes PMN apoptosis and efferocytosis, thereby facilitating resolution of E. coli-evoked lung injury. Collectively, these results uncover a TLR9-mediated endogenous mechanism that impairs PMN phagocytosis and prolongs inflammation, and demonstrate both endogenous and therapeutic potential for 15-epi-LXA4 and 17-epi-RvD1 to restore impaired bacterial clearance and facilitate resolution of acute lung inflammation. Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.We recently reported that social choice-induced voluntary abstinence prevents incubation of methamphetamine craving in rats. This inhibitory effect was associated with activation of protein kinase-Cδ (PKCδ)-expressing neurons in central amygdala lateral division (CeL). In contrast, incubation of craving after forced abstinence was associated with activation of CeL-expressing somatostatin (SOM) neurons. Here we determined the causal role of CeL PKCδ and SOM in incubation using short-hairpin RNAs against PKCδ or SOM that we developed and validated. We injected two groups with shPKCδ or shCtrlPKCδ into CeL and trained them to lever press for social interaction (6 d) and then for methamphetamine infusions (12 d). We injected two other groups with shSOM or shCtrlSOM into CeL and trained them to lever press for methamphetamine infusions (12 d). We then assessed relapse to methamphetamine seeking after 1 and 15 abstinence days. Between tests, the rats underwent either social choice-induced abstinence (shPKCδ groups) or homecage forced abstinence (shSOM groups). After test day 15, we assessed PKCδ and SOM, Fos, and double-labeled expression in CeL and central amygdala medial division (CeM). https://www.selleckchem.com/products/nd646.html shPKCδ CeL injections decreased Fos in CeL PKCδ-expressing neurons, increased Fos in CeM output neurons, and reversed the inhibitory effect of social choice-induced abstinence on incubated drug seeking on day 15. In contrast, shSOM CeL injections decreased Fos in CeL SOM-expressing neurons, decreased Fos in CeM output neurons, and decreased incubated drug seeking after 15 forced abstinence days. Our results identify dissociable central amygdala mechanisms of abstinence-dependent expression or inhibition of incubation of craving.Many studies have demonstrated covariation between muscle activations during behavior, suggesting that muscles are not controlled independently. According to one common proposal, this covariation reflects simplification of task performance by the nervous system so that muscles with similar contributions to task variables are controlled together. Alternatively, this covariation might reflect regulation of low-level aspects of movements that are common across tasks, such as stresses within joints. We examined these issues by analyzing covariation patterns in quadriceps muscle activity during locomotion in rats. The three monoarticular quadriceps muscles (vastus medialis [VM], vastus lateralis [VL], and vastus intermedius [VI]) produce knee extension and so have identical contributions to task performance; the biarticular rectus femoris (RF) produces an additional hip flexion. Consistent with the proposal that muscle covariation is related to similarity of muscle actions on task variables, we found that the covariation between VM and VL was stronger than their covariations with RF. However, covariation between VM and VL was also stronger than their covariations with VI. Since all vastii have identical actions on task variables, this finding suggests that covariation between muscle activity is not solely driven by simplification of overt task performance. Instead, the preferentially strong covariation between VM and VL is consistent with the control of internal joint stresses Since VM and VL produce opposing mediolateral forces on the patella, the high positive correlation between their activation minimizes the net mediolateral patellar force. These results provide important insights into the interpretation of muscle covariations and their role in movement control.Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by CAG (encoding glutamine) repeat expansion in the Ataxin-3 (ATXN3) gene. We have shown previously that ATXN3-depleted or pathogenic ATXN3-expressing cells abrogate polynucleotide kinase 3'-phosphatase (PNKP) activity. Here, we report that ATXN3 associates with RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) and the classical nonhomologous end-joining (C-NHEJ) proteins, including PNKP, along with nascent RNAs under physiological conditions. Notably, ATXN3 depletion significantly decreased global transcription, repair of transcribed genes, and error-free double-strand break repair of a 3'-phosphate-containing terminally gapped, linearized reporter plasmid. The missing sequence at the terminal break site was restored in the recircularized plasmid in control cells by using the endogenous homologous transcript as a template, indicating ATXN3's role in PNKP-mediated error-free C-NHEJ. Furthermore, brain extracts from SCA3 patients and mice show significantly lower PNKP activity, elevated p53BP1 level, more abundant strand-breaks in the transcribed genes, and degradation of RNAP II relative to controls.